City police and transportation officials boycotted the hearing, which was provoked by a massive postcard campaign organized by Transportation Alternatives. A representative of the Mayor contended that cycling fatalities were too diffuse to categorize - an argument belied by Right Of Way's careful classification of crash circumstances and behaviors. "You can't study traffic danger in terms of geographical 'hot spots,'" Right-of-Way's Charles Komanoff told the council, "when every street is a hot spot for cyclists and pedestrians."

Transportation Alternatives director John Kaehny called on the city to move beyond traditional traffic policing to more effective means like more red light cameras, a new speed camera program, public education campaigns and a much more vigorous traffic calming effort by the NYC DOT.